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Source: Friends of Sabeel North America Our warmest wishes and hopes for renewal go out to our Eastern Orthodox Christian friends who celebrate Easter on Sunday, May 1. The Eastern churches constitute the largest Christian community in Palestine, so on this day we hope and pray that God will renew your spirits with the liberating power of the “resurrected one.” May this week of focusing on Jesus and the meaning of his life and witness revive you for the long journey toward justice, even amid the unholy brutalities enacted by Israel in the land of our liberator’s birth. Franciscan theologian…

Source: The Wall Street Journal By JAMES MARTIN When was the last time you felt stressed out by Easter? So much Easter shopping to do, so many Easter cards to write, so many Easter gatherings to attend. Not to mention the endless stream of Easter commercials on television and online, the nearly unavoidable Easter-themed movies and all those tacky Easter sweaters that you’re forced to wear every spring. And don’t forget the travails of setting up the annual Easter tree and stringing Easter lights on your house. Every year you lament how overly commercialized Easter has become. Can the holiday get…

Source: Georgian Journal Holy Fire has descended on the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. The miracle repeats yet again. Descent of the celestial flame is an undeniable sign of veracity of tenets of Orthodox Christian faith and their grace. The Holy Fire, expected by the parish that gathered around the sepulcher since morning, was brought out by Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem. Thousands of believers have distributed the fire among themselves. The Orthodox Patriarch entered the Church of the Resurrection at approximately 15:14, Georgian time, and the church was subsequently closed. Before he entered, the Patriarch was searched by clergy of…

Source: CatholicCulture.org Catholic World News – May 07, 2014 The head of the Coptic Orthodox Church has written to Pope Francis, proposing that Catholics and Orthodox agree on a date for the celebration of Easter, the Fides news service reports. Coptic Pope Tawadros II sent his message to Pope Francis on the anniversary of their first meeting in Rome. In return, the Roman Pontiff asked the Egyptian prelate to send a representative to attend the October meeting of the Synod of Bishops. A shared date for Easter celebrations would be a boon to Christians in the Middle East, where Catholic and…

Source: Huffington Post In this stunning video, Orthodox Christians welcome the Holy Fire, a miracle that Orthodox Christians believe occurs every year on the evening before Easter Sunday. Close to 10,000 people crowded the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, believed to be the location of Jesus’ burial and resurrection. Since the 9th century, Orthodox Christians celebrate the Holy Fire ceremony with a belief that a mysterious ‘blue fire’ lights a candle held by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch in Jerusalem. According to RT.com, the light is then shared with other clergy leaders and then spread to waiting worshipers who claim that…

Source: Albuquerque Journal By Andrew Estocin / Albuquerque resident on Mon, Apr 15, 2013 Easter is a distant memory for most New Mexicans. Look down the aisle of your local store and one finds only a clearance bin of damaged Easter bunnies mixed in with threads of plastic green grass. Yellow marshmallow Peeps are an endangered species on the candy aisle. Meanwhile, greeting card companies remind us repeatedly that Mother’s Day, graduation and Cinco de Mayo are just around the corner. However, for New Mexico’s 4,000-plus Orthodox Christians preparations for Easter, more commonly known as Pascha, are in full swing. Traditional foods…

Source: Al Moutran by Archbishop PETER (Reprinted from: The Orthodox Church Newspaper, April-May 1994 ) There is among the Orthodox a very widespread belief that the Christian celebration of Easter must necessarily come after the Jewish Passover. This chronological order is considered imperative and bears a symbolic meaning, as it is believed to have been decreed by the First Ecumenical Council held at Nicea in 325. This belief is stated and reaffirmed in the 12th century by the Byzantine canonist Zonaras. Another famous canonist of the later Middle Ages, Matthew Blastaris, in summing up the opinions of his time on…